


Disney Channel Original Movie

by PastelMess



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Drug Use, M/M, Magic, Partying, implied sex, pretty sure thats it, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-12
Updated: 2015-10-12
Packaged: 2018-04-26 03:12:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4987867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PastelMess/pseuds/PastelMess
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So Tyler and Josh get frickin' hammered one night, and in the morning they aren't exactly... themselves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Disney Channel Original Movie

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rainbowsandgucci](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainbowsandgucci/gifts).



> So this basically takes place during Fall Out Boy's 2013 tour with Panic & TOP. I've nicknamed it Freaky Friday pt. 2 because I'm trash like that.
> 
> Or you know, I just wanted to write something entertaining.

Sweaty bodies and hazy smoke with nicotine and yelling and so much alcohol it’s a surprise the two of them haven’t dropped dead from alcohol poisoning.

Josh is grinding on Tyler. Is it weird to grind on your best friend?

Nah, he decides. Its normal.

***

Tyler wakes up with a nasty hangover.

His brain is pounding against his skull and it feels like it might explode soon. He looks over to see another body curled under a thousand blankets. That’s Josh. Okay. Good. They didn’t have sex.

Tyler didn’t drink a lot. And when he did drink, he certainly didn’t get hammered like last night. Last night! What happened last night? He can’t remember.

They were in a hotel room, and he remembers why. The band was in the middle of a tour, opening for Panic! at the Disco and Fall Out Boy, spending nights sleeping in the back of a van with four other dudes. Their next show location was only about six or seven hours away, so everyone decided one night in a proper bed wouldn’t kill them.

So that left him here in this hotel room in nothing but boxers. His eyes were still heavy with sleep and it felt like he might double over if he stood up. The room was spinning.

Tyler smells like vomit. His nose wrinkles in disgust as he forces himself to groggily shuffle to the bathroom. He can hear Josh snoring softly.

The shower flickers to life, steam already starting to fill the closed room as scorching water rains down, just the way Tyler likes them. He can’t wait to shower and remove all the icky feelings he has about last night. This is why he doesn’t drink. Why did he drink last night? These are all shower thoughts, he decides.

He doesn’t feel like himself. His body feels disportionate, arms too long and legs to short. There’s a weird sauve of colours on his arm. Did he get a new tattoo last night? Tyler’s hand grips the side of his head to find that his hair seems to be shorter than usual.

Tyler is looking in the mirror. Looking in the mirror and exchanging his hand from his head for his mouth as he bites down to avoid shouting. Because looking back at him is not Tyler, but Josh.

This is weird. Too weird. Josh’s eyes, Josh’s nose, Josh’s hair, Josh’s tattoos, but Tyler’s brain. This has to be a dream. There’s no way this can be real. How can he wake up in Josh’s body? Did that mean...

He’s shoving out the bathroom in seconds, wisps of steam making their way into the hotel room as he shakes Josh awake frantically. Tyler is panicking.

“Go away,” mumbles Josh as he pulls the comforter and his forty other blankets tighter around his body. Tyler has to avoid screaming again because that’s _his_ voice that just came from under the blankets in this bed he was currently standing over. Tyler shakes him again.

“You gotta get up man, you have to get up. Something weird is going on.”

Josh sits up as he grumbles in protest, one hand sliding to the side of his head. Tyler feels like he’s about to faint. He’s staring at himself, hair sticking up in all directions and a very evident 5 o’clock shadow sprawled across his face. He’s shirtless too.

“Remind me to never drink again,” Josh groans, face almost immediately lighting up in surprise at the sound of his own voice. He looks at his hands, flipping them around palm up, before glancing over at the tattoos on his left arm and swallowing loudly. “These aren’t mine.”

Their eyes meet and Josh looks even more freaked out then before. Which is weird, because Tyler is staring at himself and he’s not in control and that is weird.

“You, me, how...?” Josh can’t find himself able to create sentences. He can’t remember how.

“I don’t know. What happened last night?”

“I don’t remember. I can’t remember anything. All I know is that my head is hurting really bad. Not my head. Your head.” Tyler shrugs and it causes Josh to let out a sound of disgust. “I don’t like looking at myself.”

“You know what? Either do I.”

There’s a knock at the door.

The two look at each other in a panic as the person on the other side shouts out, “It’s Patrick! Open up!”

Tyler opens his mouth to speak but closes it. Josh is looking around with wide eyes.

“Say something,” whispers Tyler harshly. Josh shakes his head.

“You say something! You’re the lead singer!”

“Well congratulations, you look like him. Now act cool and say something.”

Josh sighs, but flashes Tyler a dirty look and slides off the bed to go pull open the door. Patrick pushes in with a smile. He’s already fully clothed and ready to go.

“Hey guys! Did you sleep alright? You were partying pretty hard last night.” his smile melts more into a smirk, which frankly freaks Tyler out.

“You were there?” Josh asks, his eyes drifting over to Tyler’s. They must be thinking the same thing. If Patrick was there, maybe he knows what happened.

“Yeah, everyone was there.” he looks confused, like they were supposed to know all of this already. “Do you not remember?”

“Hangover’s pretty bad,” mumbles Tyler as his eyes fall to the squiggles on the carpet. He wonders where they got such an interesting pattern. It reminds him of the pattern on the cups used for soft drinks in the 1990s. Is there a warehouse for that kind of stuff?

“I bet. I’m pretty sure the two of you combined drank more than Brendon ever has in his entire lifetime.” Judging by Patrick’s smug expression, it doesn’t look like he’s going to give up the details.

Josh replies with a jumbled “wonderful” to which Patrick laughs loudly.

“You disappeared halfway through the night. Any idea to what you did?” He looks fairly certain they were sleeping together.

“How would we know if we can’t remember anything?” Josh’s face is scrunched up in annoyance and Tyler thinks his face looks stupid like that. Then again, he makes the same look almost daily, so he probably looks just as stupid.

Patrick only shrugs. “Sorry guys. Can’t help with that. But uh, we are heading out for the venue in about an hour.” he leans forward to peek around the corner. “Is your shower running?”

“Shit.” Tyler disappears into the bathroom, leaving Josh to awkwardly shift his weight between feet. His face is probably a million different shades of red.

“So Tyler, the venue wanted to talk to you about lights or something when we get there. The place has a noise curfew so we have to shorten the length of all our sets.” Josh is still staring at the floor when he realizes that he _is_ Tyler and has to pretend he understands what’s going on. How would he respond to something like this? Give a snarky answer? Smile and nod? Panic?

“Tyler?” Patrick bends his knees slightly to wave a hand in front of Josh’s face. He replies with a small smile.

“Yeah, sorry. Uh, yeah, sure. I got it.”

“We’ve got aspirin back in the bus if you want some. Josh too.” Patrick nods towards the bathroom, where the door shuts loudly. Tyler must be getting in the shower, which means he’s practically abandoning Josh to suffer and pretend everything is totally normal and that he didn’t wake up in Tyler’s body. He doesn’t like this at all.

“Yeah. That would be awesome. Really cool. Thanks.”

Patrick cocks an eyebrow. “You doing alright Ty? You and Josh are acting really strange.”

“Just peachy.” he clasps his hands together and jabs a thumb behind him. “I’m gonna go get dressed.”

“‘Kay. We leave in an hour. See you then.” Josh quickly ushers Patrick out the door. The minute he’s alone, he’s banging his head against the door. How long is this going to last? Is he going to have to permanently pretend he’s Tyler Joseph for the entirety of his life? Josh didn’t think he could do that. He could barely say five words to a single person without stuttering, how was he expected to talk to an entire venue?

Then it occurs to him that they have a show they have to play tonight, which makes everything worse. Josh can’t sing. He doesn’t know all the lyrics and he certainly can’t play piano or ukulele. What are they going to do?

This is not good. And that, kids, is why you don’t drink.

***

Josh is sifting through his bag for clothes when Tyler comes out of the bathroom. He’s got a towel setting very low around his waist and his hair is in his face. Josh shivers, creeped out by looking at himself.

“Don’t tell me you were planning on wearing your own clothes.”

“Well, I, uh...” Now that he’s thinking about it, that might not be the best idea. “I didn’t think about it.”

Tyler scoffs. “Go shower dude. I’ll pick out some clothes.”

“Oh come on. No offense, but your taste in fashion isn’t exactly the best.”

“Wow, thanks.” he rolls his eyes. “It’s my body though, and you’ve got to pretend to be me. So I pick out clothes for you, and I guess you do the same for me.” Tyler picks at his chin. “God, how can you stand to have all this hair on your face?”

“It doesn’t bother me.” Josh pushes off the bed and heads towards the bathroom. It was going to be a long day.

***

Everyone gathers outside the buses (and van) before they take off. Tyler keeps toying with “his” nose ring while Josh shifts uncomfortably. The jeans Tyler chose are incredibly tight and he’s not quite sure how he can deal with wearing them the amount of times he does.

“Stop doing that,” Josh swats at Tyler’s hand (his hand?) with an annoyed huff. Instead, Tyler starts playing with the brim of his hat.

“Not my fault. This,” he gestures to himself, “is new to me.”

“You know what’s new to me? The fact that your jeans are constricting beyond belief. How the hell can you wear these?”

“I’ve got better legs than you is how.”

“Tyler, I swear to God.” There is absolutely no way they were going to last being like this.

“Yo Ty, ‘Trick sent me with aspirin!” Brendon is grinning as he tosses a small, white bottle their way and shoves his hands deep into his pockets. Tyler catches it with ease, returning the smile as he pops the cap.

“Thanks man.”

“Funny, _Josh_ , I didn’t know your name was Tyler.” he raises an eyebrow as Tyler’s smile fades and is replaced with fear instead. Brendon looks between the two of them in suspicion.

“You guys alright?”

“Oh yeah. You know, we just woke up this morning and decided to switch names for the day.” Josh kicks Tyler in the back of the leg as hard as he can muster. “Ow!”

“Ignore Josh. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. You know how those hangovers can get.”

Brendon looks like he’s debating on whether to say something or keep his mouth shut, but as both of them know when Brendon Urie is given the chance to speak he never turns it down. “Are you guys fucking each other?”

Josh feels his cheeks flush immediately as he casts his eyes to the ground. Okay, yes, him and Tyler had slept together on a few occasions, but that was like, a friends with benefits thing. They never talked about it and the last time it did happen was more than a few months ago. Nobody needed to know.

“Of course not,” he manages to spit out, but Tyler’s got another idea.

“Yep, we are! Congrats, you are the first to figure that out. That’s our only problem.” he’s babbling and for a split second it looks like Brendon might not believe him. Then he’s grinning and pumping a fist in the air.

“Ha! I knew it. Dallon owes me twenty bucks!” Brendon skips away gleefully while Josh glares at Tyler. He’s furious.

“Why?” he simply asks, trying not to lose his temper. “Why, of all things, would you say that? And me! I would never say that! He thinks you’re me! Oh my god.” Josh covers his face with his hands and Tyler only scoffs.

“Come on dude, look at the bigger picture here. If they think that’s why we’re acting weird, nobody will question our, uh, weirdness.”

Josh sighs, but it makes sense. He gestures to the aspirin bottle. “Give it.”

“Alright, jeez. Someone’s in a bad mood.”

“Shut up.”

***

They spend six hours pressed up against each other in a van with their crew, stopping only once for gas and Redbull (per Tyler's request, in which he makes Josh ask). The entire time is filled with grumbling and complaining, Josh constantly yanking on the waistband of his jeans to allow him to actually breathe while Tyler can't seem to stop touching his face. Josh was never going to criticise Tyler ever again if things went back to normal, because this was the most uncomfortable he swore he had ever been.

They were supposed to be going straight to an interview when they arrived at their location, but instead both of them squeeze into a tiny one person bathroom where Tyler locks the door with a huff.

"What are we going to do about tonight?" He asks worriedly, one hand pressed up against the door. Josh shrugs.

"I don't know. I mean, I can't sing. I don't know the words-"

"You don't know the words?" Tyler seems hurt by this information and Josh immediately tries to rephrase it.

"All the words," he throws up his hands in defense, "I certainly can't rap like you can,"

"I don't rap."

"And I can't play piano or ukulele, so I guess we're doomed. Can we cancel the show?"

"How are we supposed to explain that to everyone else? We're the opening band."

"Exactly. Nobody's here to see us. We can just tell them we're sick or something."

"But they already know we aren't," Tyler points out in frustration, "so we can't just make something up."

There's a knock at the door.

"Hey you guys?" Brendon shouts over the noise outside, "they're looking for you out there. Interview's in five."

"Let's tell Brendon," Josh suddenly whispers, because it's the first thought on his mind. Tyler looks at him likes he's crazy.

"Are you insane? He's not going to believe us for one second."

"We might as well tell someone, because this charade we have going on is going to get suspicious. And maybe if he knows, he could help us avoid the show?"

"What are you guys whispering about? Why are you even in the bathroom anyways?" Brendon pauses before groaning. "Oh, dudes!"

"It's not what you think!" Josh yells back frantically as he scrambled to unlock the door and yank it open. Brendon squeezes himself into the bathroom and proceeds to lean against the sink.

"So what's going on?"

"Er..." Tyler looks at Josh who looks Brendon who is currently looking at Tyler. Brendon raises an eyebrow.

Finally, Tyler sighs. "Ok, look. We aren't uh, er,"

"Fucking each other?" Brendon finishes with a suspicious smirk. Josh turns bright red almost immediately while Tyler just shrugs. Brendon looks between the two of them with a strange look on his face. "Usually it's Josh that's getting hot and flustered over this."

"It's still Josh who's getting hot and flustered over this," mutters Josh and he attempts to shift to a more comfortable position in this tiny bathroom.

"So you are fucking each other?"

"No!" Josh shouts at the same time Tyler says "Occasionally." Josh swears he's going to kick Tyler's ass the minute they're alone.

"Look Brendon, we have slept together a couple of times. But that was like, three years ago. And we were drunk." Tyler assures him, but Josh is still glaring at him. "But that isn't our problem."

"You aren't going to believe us, but we're going to try and explain."

"Uh, ok..." Brendon waves his hand to let them continue. They look at each other before Tyler starts again.

"So you know how we were out last night?" Brendon nods. "Well this morning I woke up, and I wasn't myself. Like, I looked like this." He gestures to himself and then points to Josh. "That's Josh. And uh, I'm Tyler."

Brendon blinks, and then looks between the two of them. Josh pulls on his jeans again. Tyler clears his throat. There's enough awkwardness in the room for about forty people.

Finally, he speaks. "You're telling me, you woke up this morning in each other's bodies?"

Josh rubs the back of his neck. "Er, yeah."

"Are you kidding me? I know you guys are close and all, but this is a pretty dumb joke even for you guys."

"I wish we were joking."

Brendon's still gaping, a scoff escaping his lips. He points towards Tyler. "Alright, then Josh, what did I tell you the other day?"

Josh answers, causing Brendon to pivot around to him. "You said Tyler had a really nice ass."

Brendon's face turns bright red as he stutters, "no, uh, not what I said!"

Tyler is grinning as he turns Josh around to look at his butt. He seems satisfied. "You think I have a nice ass?"

"I can't believe you told him that!"

"I didn't," Josh responds nonchalantly, "I'm Josh. I mean, I did just tell him, but that's not what I meant."

Brendon sighs. "The other thing. I meant the other thing."

"About playing drums for a song?"

"What?" Tyler asks in surprise. Josh shrugs.

"Yeah." Brendon runs a hand through his hair. "Okay, so you switched bodies. This is like a Disney channel original movie."

"Except real life." Tyler groans. "What are we going to do? We have a show tonight."

Someone knocks on the door. "Interview in a minute!" They shout before their footsteps scuttle away and echo off the walls.

"Shit."

"Don't panic," Brendon tries, "you just have to pretend to be each other. Don't be weird about it. You're best friends, you know everything about each other as it is." He pauses, a smirk rising to his lips, "and you've seen each other inside and out," they both groan loudly as Brendon shushes them, "so I'm sure you can last."

"We're going to fuck this up so badly," Tyler mumbles as he makes his way out of the bathroom. Josh agrees.

***

The interview is a mess.

They sit on the wrong side, for one, which messes everything between them. Several times they answer to the wrong names, leaving the interviewer in confusion, and when she asks Tyler a really personal question about his music Josh has to pretend he's as deep as a thinker as Tyler and not fuck that up. Except he did. Badly.

"That was awful," groans Tyler as they walk out of the room. Josh agrees.

"Sorry. It was mostly me."

"Nah, it was the both of us. I just don't like the way things are. I don't like this." He gestures to himself with a huff. Josh scoffs.

"You don't like me?"

"No, I love you. I just don't love being you."

"Well I can say the same for you." Josh scratches at his arm as they head back to the van. Pete wanted them to eat at this restaurant before they went over for sound check and eventually, the show. They were going to get some things before heading over.

Brendon approaches them as they open the door to the van. "Hey guys, how was the interview?"

"Terrible," they both reply. Brendon lets out a low whistle.

"Damn. What are you going to do about tonight?"

"We still have sound check we have to get through." Tyler drags a hand down his face, flinching when his fingers brush the beard. Then he scowls. "You gotta shave dude."

"You gotta shave dude," Josh mimics in a high pitched voice as he rolls his eyes. "My face."

Brendon shakes his head. "This is seriously so weird."

"Yeah, tell me about it."

"Why don't you skip sound check and I'll do it for you? I play a little bit of everything, I'll help you out. I'll tell them you're resting because of your hangover."

Josh sighs with relief. "Oh thank god, you'd do that?"

"Yeah dudes. Just, don't have sex in the back of the van. Or do maybe, if you're into that shit. I just think it'd be weird to stare at myself naked." He shivers. "Anyways, you coming to eat or not?"

"Yeah, we're coming."

***

“Tyler! Josh! Good to see you sober.” Pete’s got this huge grin on his face as the two of them join everyone else at the table. Brendon sits next to Spencer and Dallon with a sly smirk of his own. Josh is starting to regret telling him.

“They certainly had a wild night,” Patrick adds with a small chuckle. He takes a drink of water and wiggles his eyebrows.

“You guys keep acting like we are supposed to remember what the hell happened last night.” Tyler is starting to get aggravated. “We can’t remember a single thing. So unless you want to explain what we did that was so wild, we aren’t going to be able to help you out in that department.”

“Yikes Josh, who spiked your food this morning?” Everyone breaks out in laughter, besides Tyler and Josh of course.

“Alright, go easy on them. They’re new to the partying.” Brendon leans forward on his elbows, sending a wink their way. Tyler continues to grumble under his breath.

Pete shrugs. “Alright, whatever. So all our sets gotta be a little shorter because this venue’s got a noise curfew so when we go over for soundcheck, we’ll have to discuss that with them. Ty, Josh, you’ll go first since you’re playing first, then Brendon, Spencer, and Dallon, and lastly us.”

“I volunteered to do their soundcheck so they can get some rest before the show. It’s weird, they aren’t exactly themselves today, are you boys?” Brendon’s smirk is back and Tyler resists the urge to flip him off.

Pete looks weirdly between the three of them before a small sigh escapes his lips. “Alright, whatever. But you guys should at least be there to check how everything sounds. Brendon’s taste might be different than yours.”

“Yeah...” Josh shoves his head into his hands. This is a disaster. One, big, huge disaster.

“I’ll come grab you guys before it’s our turn. Then you can make your decisions and go back to sleep. Sound good?”

“Great. Thank you so much.” Tyler forces a smile and reaches for his glass of water. He contemplates grabbing the fork and stabbing himself with it instead.

***

“I know what we should do tonight,” Tyler says once they are alone in the van and everyone else has left for soundcheck. Josh settles down in the back and stares at the ceiling.

“What?”

“We’ll do our normal set, just like we always do.”

Josh blinks. “Are you out of your mind?”

“Think about it. There are going to be some people waiting to see what we always do. Sure, I can play the drums, but you play so much better. I don’t know everything. You can’t play piano or uke, so I’ll do that myself. If people don’t know who we are, they aren’t going to think twice about it. They’ll see me as you and think, wow, cool. Hopefully. Or they’ll hate us. Oh well.”

“Tyler, I have a terrible voice.”

He scoffs. “You really don’t dude. It sounds fine. We’ll be fine. Just backwards. Be careful if you do that backflip though. I’m not sure if my scrawny body can hold up.”

“Alright. It makes sense I guess. But what about the other guys? They’ll certainly know.”

“We’ll tell them it’s a prank. Easy as that. They’ve terrorized us plenty on this tour already.”

“Fine, fine. Okay. God, this is going to be so weird.”

“It’s really not. It might be exciting. A first. How many bands switch the designated jobs of their members?”

“There’s a reason bands don’t do that Ty.”

Tyler frowns. “That’s besides the point. Just trust me.”

Josh hits his head on the van window as he sits up. A string of profanities escapes his lips as he rubs gingerly and glares at Tyler who is currently chuckling behind his hands. “I really hope this doesn’t last long.”

“Maybe there was a witch. Some technical thing.”

“Maybe it’s all a dream,” mutters Josh as he peers out the window at someone walking across the street. He hopes that’s the case.

“We got to deal with it man. It’s a challenge and we need challenges sent our way. That’s what makes us human, no?”

“Tyler, we can’t continue our band if this doesn’t go back to normal. We won’t even be able to live our normal lives. You can’t go back home to your family. They’ll think you’re me. That means I’ll be stuck pretending to be you the rest of my life. I can’t do that. I can’t talk to huge crowds of people. I’m going to freak out. I’m going to die. I’m going to-” Josh gasps loudly and pulls his knees up to his chest. Tyler sighs, leaning over to comfort his now panicking friend.

“Shh Josh, we aren’t going to be stuck like this forever. I promise. We just have to deal with it for now, and figure it out as it happens, okay? We can do this. You can do this. You won’t have to talk to anyone tonight. I’m going to be doing everything.”

Josh takes a deep breath and nods. “Alright. That sounds good.”

“Get some rest Jishwa. You need it.” Josh laughs at Tyler’s remarks and snuggles deeper into the mess of blankets they have in the back seat.

***

Brendon wakes them up in the absolute worst way possible: Slamming his hands loudly on the van’s right side window. Josh wakes up in a panicked frenzy, his heart ready to beat out of his chest. Tyler rolls over with a groan as Brendon yanks open the van door.

“Wakey wakey, it’s time for you to come and make sure you like your sound.”

“Fuck off,” Tyler mumbles into the sheets as he twists around, entangling his limbs with Josh’s. Brendon scoffs and pulls on a leg.

“It’ll take five minutes tops. Come on.”

With another loud sigh Josh clambers out of the van still half asleep, Tyler following just as groggily. Brendon stares at them with a wide smirk and proudly leads the way into the venue. It’s loud inside, lights flashing and so many instruments being playing at once. Neither one of them like it with the condition they’re in.

Brendon leads them on stage and shoves the ukulele into Josh’s hands. “I don’t know what the two of you are planning on doing tonight, but I _really_ hope you’ve formulated some type of plan.”

Josh hands the ukulele off to Tyler, who strums it and nods approvingly at the sound. “Josh doesn’t know how to play piano or uke, so we’re switching things up.”

Brendon blinks. “Let me get things straight.” He points to Tyler. “You’ll be singing and playing your stuff while Josh,” his finger moves over, “plays the drums? Aren’t people going to be a little, I don’t know, confused?”

“That’s what I was saying,” agrees Josh.

Tyler rolls his eyes. “Let’s be honest Brendon, nobody knows who we are. They aren’t going to know the difference.”

“But everyone else will. What do you plan on telling them?”

“Easy. It’s a prank.”

“Cause that makes sense.”

“Well what do you suggest then Urie? Because we are grasping for straws here.”

Brendon ponders this. Scratches his head. Rakes fingers through his hair. Shrugs. “Eh. I got nothing. Maybe you’re right. I mean, depending on Josh’s voice. I’ve never actually heard you sing Joshie-poo.”

“There’s a reason for that,” Josh mumbles. Tyler punches him playfully.

“He sounds fine. Trust me. Anyways, soundcheck. Josh, if you would.” Josh nods and makes his way to the drumset. His drumsticks feel weird in his hands. They feel too big, and Tyler’s hands aren’t as calloused as his are. Josh had never realized how small his friend’s hands were.

Tyler presses keys on the piano, nodding his head at the sound once more. He talks into the microphone to make sure it’s working before sitting down and playing the starting notes.

And then he’s singing.

Josh watches with wide eyes as Tyler plays and sings. It’s weird, because _holy shit_ that’s _his_ voice and it actually sounds decent. He never thought that could happen. He certainly could never make it sound that way.

When Tyler finishes, Brendon breaks out in a slow clap, a grin plastered on his face. “Shit Joseph, that was incredible. Josh, your voice is extraordinary.”

Josh’s face turns red. “Uhm, thanks.”

“Seriously. I know you don’t think so but it really does sound good.”

“Cause Tyler’s singing,” he mumbles but Brendon snorts.

“It doesn’t matter who’s singing. Anyways, try those drums out and get off the stage. Dallon’s getting antsy.” Brendon’s grin melts into a smirk as he wiggles his eyebrows and disappears out the side door.

***

They spend the rest of the day in the van, trying to catch up on some much needed sleep. In fact, the only problem they had was when they left the venue to go back to the van. The two of them got stopped by four girls, and it was terribly awkward, for Josh signed his own name before his brain could process he was pretending to be Tyler, and Tyler talked way too much for someone pretending to be Joshua Dun.

But besides that, they slept in the van, waking up fine and refreshed. They go back into the venue and down the hall to their dressing room to get ready for the show. Tyler picks out clothes for Josh and Josh picks out clothes for Tyler.

“Five minutes,” someone says.

“Fuck,” Josh replies. He rubs his eyes.

“We’re fine,” Tyler says, but he’s not so sure himself. This is (hopefully) a once in a lifetime thing and they really have to be good to pull it off. He’s not sure if they are that good.

“Tyler?”

“Hmm?”

“What if we really are stuck this way for the rest of our lives?” Josh looks up at his friend with a face full of concern, and Tyler can only sigh and shrug.

“I don’t know Jish. I really don’t know.”

“I mean, we can’t really explain this to people. How are we supposed to explain this to people? I don’t think we can.”

“We’ll worry about that later. As for now, we just gotta focus on getting through tonight’s show, alright dude? Can you do that?”

Josh lets out a large breath of air through his nose and nods. “Yeah. I can do that.”

“Just drum hard like you always do. Enjoy yourself. Try not to get distracted by seeing yourself on stage.” he smiles at the end of his pep talk, causing Josh to join in.

“Alright. Got it.”

“Boys? It’s go time.” that same somebody says.

Tyler looks at Josh. Josh looks at Tyler. They share a same look of determination before leaving the green room and heading down the hallway to the stage.

The crowd cheers as they come on stage, and Tyler notices a few t-shirts bearing their band’s logo. It makes him smile as he takes his place on stage, gripping the microphone with shaky fingers. Josh climbs over his drumset and sits down, eyes scanning the crowd. Most people don’t seem to notice the difference, but the few who do have their heads tilted in confusion.

“Oh boy,” he mutters under his breath as the song starts. Tyler looks over at him, flashing a looks that tells him “everything’s gonna be alright,” and Josh can only nod. He’s just gotta pretend. Gotta get through this one show.

***

When their set is over and they leave the stage with cheers echoing in their ears, Pete is all over them.

“What the hell was that?” he asks, a bit frivilish. Tyler shrugs nonchalantly.

“It’s whatever you want it to be.”

“Since when can Josh play piano?” Patrick adds, joining the conversation, He rests an arm on Pete’s shoulder.

“Taught him a few things,” Josh replies, scratching at his arm. Him and Tyler share a look before Tyler is clearing his throat.

“We thought it’d be funny to switch things up.”

“Well you certainly startled us, so congrats. That was a good one.” Pete’s face melts into a grin as he whispers something in Patrick's ear and the two of them break out in synchronized laughter.

Josh starts pouting and he’s not quite sure why. Maybe it’s because secrets are being muttered right in front of him. “Figured that nobody knows who we are anyways.”

“Well people are bound to know who you are now,” Brendon appears from around the corner, clad in leather pants and a gold, sparkly jacket. He’s smiling, ready to go on stage when it’s their turn. “That was incredible. Who knew little drummer boy had such a great voice?”

“Certainly not me,” Patrick answers, clasping Tyler on the shoulder. “You guys have so much talent. That’ll get you far in life.”

“Any other instruments you want to tell us you can play?” Pete inquires, raising an eyebrow with a smug look on his face.

“Thought about taking up bass,” Tyler says, and that surprises Josh because he certainly hadn’t known that and he certainly had no interest in taking up bass.

“I played trumpet in the middle school band,” he adds, causing Pete to raise an eyebrow. Josh prays Pete doesn’t know Tyler was actually homeschooled those years.

“Hmm. Well, good show tonight guys, that was awesome.”

Tyler beams. “Thank you.”

After Brendon leaves to go get the rest of his band ready for set and Pete and Patrick join Andy and Joe in their dressing room, Josh turns towards Tyler.

“Merch room?”

Tyler nods. “Merch room.”

He hopes they can remember who they are pretending to be.

***

“I think I found someone who can help you,” Brendon announces that evening. They are staying in another hotel that night, as the next stop is once again not very far away. The only difference is that nobody decided to go out. Good.

“Who on Earth do you think can help us?” Tyler looks up from his phone, pausing mid-text. Josh crosses his arms over his chest.

“Gypsy. Witch. That sort of thing.” Brendon grins and takes a seat on the armrest of the chair right in front of them. “She’s local, but might be able to tell us what’s going on. You’ll just have to explain to her what you remember.”

“How many times do we have to tell you we don’t remember anything?” Josh argues, annoyed. Brendon rolls his eyes.

“Look. We went to a bar. The two of you drank a shitton of alcohol. You were dancing and grinding all over one another, and then the two of you disappeared, probably sucking face or fucking in a back room if I had to guess. We didn’t see you the rest of the night until it was time to go, and even then you seemed really out of it. So I’m guessing it was during this time that someone decided to take advantage of you. I bet gypsy lady can tell us who.”

“You can’t seriously believe in this kind of stuff, can you?”

“Tyler look at yourself. You’re telling me you wake up looking like Josh daily? Because with how much you’ve been fucking up today, I have a hard time believing that.”

Tyler pouts. “Fine. It’s worth a shot I guess. Josh?”

“Yeah, whatever.”

Brendon cheers. “Alright, get dressed and we’ll go. I’ve got the address in my phone and ready to go. We’re taking your van. Meet me downstairs, kay?” One smile later he’s out the door and down the stairs, leaving Josh and Tyler in utter annoyance and a little bit of confusion.

“You think we made the right decision telling Bren? I mean, gypsies can’t be legit, can they?”

Josh shakes his head. “Until this morning, I didn’t believe in magic and shit. But look at us. People don’t just switch bodies normally. I certainly don’t want to be stuck looking like you the rest of my life, no offense.”

“None taken. Don’t know how much longer I can stand your frickin’ beard Jish.”

Josh scoffs. “I think it’s awesome.”

 

“I think you’re strange.” He slides off the bed and digs around in his suitcase, tossing clothes Josh’s way. “Now come on. Let’s see if we can fix this.”

***

“Strong magic,” she tells the three of them as they sit down across from her. The location Brendon brought them too was in a pretty shady looking strip mall, the lights flickering severely like something out of a horror movie. Even the “We’re Open” sign was casting a neon blood red shadow on the cement below. Inside hadn’t been much better. Everything was dark, dreary, and frankly, plain creepy.

“Come again?” Tyler asks, his voice smaller than usual. He’d be lying if he said this lady didn’t freak him out, with her one glass eye and crazy head of flame red hair.

“Between the two of you. Very strong magic. I can already tell you are in a deep pit of trouble. You are very lucky your friend brought you here.” Brendon’s smug as she stands up and begins circling Josh and Tyler, observing the two of them closely. She grabs Josh by the chin and tilts his head around gently, using her other hand to touch his face.

“So, can you help us?” Josh finally whispers once she’s stopped touching them.

“Explain to me what happened and I will see what I can do.”

“We went out,” Brendon starts, and she focuses all her attention on him. “and these two got hammered. They disappeared off somewhere and didn’t come back until the very end. Even then, they looked like zombies or something.”

“And then we woke up in each other’s bodies.” finishes Tyler.

The Gypsy nods her head and clucks her tongue. “Ah, I see. Are the two of you romantically involved?”

“No.”

She raises an eyebrow. “I have a hard time believing that.”

“Fine. We haven’t in awhile. Better?”

“Quite. It seems that someone at the bar didn’t like the way you were behaving last night. Or, they just wanted to have a little fun and you were the unlucky recipients. I think I might have something that can help.” She stands up and makes her way into the small kitchenette in the back of the room. From their chairs, the boys can see her putting several gross looking ingredients into a blender. Halfway through she comes back over and plucks a hair from Josh and Tyler’s heads before going back to the blender, leaving them to grumble.

Finally, she comes back out with two glasses full of brown lump in her hands and thrusts them into their laps. Brendon watches in amusement as she tells them they need to drink it.

“Drink that, and then I’ll give your bodies a jumpstart. You’ll be passed out after that, so I’ll leave it up to your friend to get you home safely. Can you do that?”

Brendon nods.

“Good. Bottoms up boys.” She chuckles quietly at their facial expressions as stare at the mixture placed before them. Tyler pinches his nose with one hand before swallowing whereas Josh just goes for it. And after they finish the entire glass, both are coughing and gagging like no tomorrow.

Before they can even comprehend what’s going on, she’s tazing them, electricity shooting through their bodies as they crumble to the ground unconscious. Brendon stares in bewilderment.

“Holy shit,” he says quietly. The Gypsy dusts off her hands proudly.

“That should do the trick. If it doesn’t, you know where to find me and we can try something else. Now, cash or credit?”

***

The two of them wake up in an entanglement of limbs and blankets in the back seat of their van. Tyler’s head is pounding and he squints at the harsh light pouring in through the back windows. Josh pulls the blanket over his head.

“Did she taze us?” Tyler asks, rubbing at his eyes.

And then he freezes. Stares at his hands. His arm, with all those black banded tattoos. Grins, and then breaks out into a cheer.

“It worked!” he shouts, pulling the blanket off of his friend. “Josh it worked! I’m not you anymore!”

Josh matches Tyler’s smile. “Thank God. No offense.”

“None taken. I’m just so happy to be back. I’m never going to make fun of you ever again. Pinky promise.” They link pinkies, still grinning happily. Josh pulls Tyler into a hug.

“I think we’ve learned a valuable lesson in all of this mess.”

“What’s that?”

“Never wish you were someone else.” Tyler punches him in the arm, but he nods his head in agreement.

“What are you going to do next time somebody asks you to play something on the piano?”

Josh grins cheekily. “I’ll tell them I forgot.”

Tyler pulls him into a hug.


End file.
